Amid the large-scale sweep of changes happening in Donald Trump’s second term as United States president, the State Department has reportedly been ordered to stop processing passport applications that have the applicant’s sex marked as “X” as opposed to male or female.
NBC News reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave the directive to the State Department on January 22. Moving forward, the department will not issue American passports with “X” marked as the applicant’s sex identifier, or update passports to mark “X” as one’s sex identifier. Rubio’s memo reportedly said actions should cease on passport applications with “X” as the sex. Employees have been directed to await “pending additional guidance from the Department.”
Under the directive, birth records for American citizens born outside the U.S. will also not show “X” sex markers.
NBC News noted that the State Department confirmed its suspension of issuing passports with an “X” sex marker. It also officially stopped processing applications where the sex is marked as anything outside of what the Trump administration has defined.
What Else Should I Know About Suspension Of Applications With “X” Gender Markers?
On January 20, Trump issued an executive order declaring the only two sexes to be recognized under his administration are male and female.
“These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality,” says Trump’s executive order. The document additionally outlined the term “sex” as “an individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female,” before adding that sex “is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of ‘gender identity.'”
The future of U.S. passports with “X” sex markers – and the validity of those currently issued – remains uncertain.
“The executive order specifies government-issued identification documents shall refer to an individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female,” Rubio reportedly said in his memo. “In agency documents, ‘sex’ and not ‘gender’ shall be used. Further, it is specified that the policy of the United States is that an individual’s sex is not changeable.”
